RENANTE ARCILLAS

It was in my younger years when I learned of the folk music “Pamulinawen”, the veggie dish Pinakbet (Pakbet) and hearing people call other people they don’t know “Manong” or “Manang” in many different places around.  As I grow old I realized that these all originated in a particular region in the northern part of the Philippines… Ilocos.  This collectively refers to two provinces namely Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, where the people are called Ilocanos and their dialect, the Iloko.  And more than these, I didn’t know Ilocos has a lot more in store for people who would pay this wondrous place a visit.

When I was invited by a Local Government Unit to cover their Ilocos trip, I non-hesitantly agreed to come because I really wanted to see the place and get out of a horrible experience of being left out in a roadtrip to Ilocos just because they ran out of room for another passenger.  Hmp!  Well anyways, that was a forgotten issue of the past, that when this new Ilocandia opportunity came, I grabbed it and really prepared for the trip, readier than ready.

Along with a bunch of teenage leaders from the different barrios in Sto.Tomas, Batangas, we traveled a hip-cramping 12 hours to the tobacco-filled Ilocos region with smiles in our faces and excitement in our hearts.  We first reached Ilocos Sur, and in the City of Vigan we made our first stop.

ILOCOS SUR

Vigan is a city and capital in the provinces of Ilocos Sur located on the western part of the major Philippine island of Luzon nearly reaching and facing the West Philippine Sea, formerly known as the South China Sea.  Vigan City is one of the few remaining places in the Philippines where cobblestone street roads and Hispanic-style houses still exist that is why Vigan was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).  Humidity is quite an issue here in Vigan but because the place still retains its shady portions because of its trees, both the new ones and those older than the city’s foundation, hiding from the sun’s heat is possible.  Roam around Vigan in old-school riding the “kalesa”, this seems to be a time-traveling experience because as you hear the sound of the horses’ hooves while the “kutchero” communicates with you in his native tongue, the scenery would really bring you back to the nostalgia of Hispanic Philippines.

Then we headed for the Bantay Church.  This is one of the many Augustinian churches in Ilocos to the fact that these churches were founded by Augustinian friars in the Spanish colonization era of the Philippines in the 1500’s.  Just like the other churches in the whole of the Ilocandia, having the bell tower separated from the main church building is a distinctive feature even the people I asked about it and I don’t know the reason behind why Hispanic architects made it that way.  The Bantay Bell Tower is also famous because in its topmost portion, important scenes from the early 80’s Filipino superhero movie “Panday” was shot which the late great Fernando Poe, Jr. played the main character.

We also visited former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson’s private farm that was

 eventually opened for the public, the “Baluarte”.  There you will find a zoo where you can greet and mingle with colorful Macau birds, stinky tigers, dead-tired midget horses pulling wagons, annoyed ostriches, off-white/yellowish albino pythons and most especially, giant brontosaurus and the scary allosaurus which are of course, made out of cement for they are statues only.

Before heading for our hotel, we had gone dirty when we witnessed how Ilocos earthenware is made in the “Pagburnayan”.  Many of my co-tourists bought souvenir items and sweet delicacies in that house of clay but me, I just stared and seriously paid attention on how a handful of clay is made to a decorative and artistically crafted house piece.

We stayed in the Hotel Salcedo de Vigan where hot and garlicy Ilocano foods were served and comfortable bedrooms were prepared for us.  This hotel was named after Vigan’s founding father, Juan de Salcedo, a Spanish conquistador who discovered the wondrous Ilocano city in 1571.

ILOCOS NORTE

The next day we left for Ilocos Norte, famous for being the home town of the well-known past Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos.  Juan Luna’s residence was first visited.  I bet most of you knew Juan Luna, that if not from Philippine history books, he’s an artists who is also well-known for obra maestras like the “Spoliarium” (Spoils of War) and the ever controversial (both because of its hidden radical meanings in the Spanish era and the how it was reacquired by the GSIS that left the public school teachers underfunded), the “Parisian Life”.  

We then visited the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac where most of the political Marcos’ stuffs are kept and exhibited for the public to view, both the ones who think he’s a hero and those who don’t.  But most tourists are more eager to witness the late president’s remains (which Ilocanos insist it is), fixed in a glass coffin and carefully waxed(which most naysayers contend), waiting for the Philippine government to give the former president his last right for the rite of being buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery).

After experiencing the super hot weather of Batac, we rushed to Bangui Beach for the breeze of the twenty giant electric fans installed in its bayside.  I’m just kidding, hehe.  Bangui is the location where giant wind turbines were put to supply Ilocos’ electrical needs.  As of this period, according to the locals and the tour guides who were with us all along, almost 70% of both the two Ilocos provinces combined are already enjoying the cheap electricity this former Ilocos Norte Governor Bong-bong Marcos’ (son of the older Marcos) $78 million windmill project is generating… a project and tourism feature which for me, is very very cool.

The Java Hotel in Laoag City served as our shelter for our last night in Ilocos.  Complete with amenities a traveler needs, this hotel would really chase a delinquent guest who would keep its towels, keychains and keys to bring home for souvenirs.

Before we headed for home, we paid a visit to the Malacañang of the North (Malacañang ti

 Amianan).  This was the headquarters of President Marcos where he continues his work when not in the Philippine capital of Manila.  This features paintings and other Marcos regime stuffs like classic Filipino home fixtures like the capiz windows and strong wooden floors.  This wonderful experience of being in the Marcos’ vacation house was completed by the wondrous view of the Paoay Lake viewed from the Palace’s veranda.  I even grabbed a bite (bites… many many) of the Ilocano deep-fried empanada at the local food stand near Malacañang ti Amianan that even if they shared with me the ingredients of the delicacy (shredded unripe papaya, mongo beans, ground pork and raw egg wrapped in a self-prepared dough wrapper), the store owner was not able to answer my query why the empanada is orange?  

This is a testament that I enjoyed our trip both in Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte.  Although it was really long and tiring, the panoramic views, historical features, and technological innovations which are new to me and to other people’s eyes really made the Ilocos visit worth cherishing.  Now, if you are a person who is straight forward and values history, go up north of the Philippines.  A 12-hour bus ride is not bad, as long as you know that giant electric fans, Johnny Moon the painter, tobacco fields forever, FM, the kalesas, cobblestone streets and houses of the past await you and would surely give satisfaction to your searchy and curious heart.

Agyamanac unay! (Thank you very much!)

One night, as I was on my way home, I looked at the night sky for the stars. It seemed like that I missed these heavenly fireflies because of the continuous and heavy rainfall the past few days. With excitement, my heart cheered and I smiled by myself. One person came into my mind who I had given credit for my artistic fascination of the stars… Vincent Van Gogh. One of his night sky-inspired paintings, the “Starry Night” was really amazing. Even though this painting was made during Van Gogh’s sanitarium days, modern art enthusiasts would say that these days were few of those honing days in the history of art. This Van Gogh masterpiece has risen to the peak of artistic achievements that although he only sold one painting in his lifetime, the fame of his works after his death was very viral that they inspired and continuously inspiring painters of different generations. 

 And for me, he even made the sky his canvas. 

Van Gogh was a broken hearted lad, a hot-tempered drunkard, an untidy artist, a “yellow” person, admirer of wheat fields, a semi-mad person who resembles the “House” TV Series main character Hugh Laurie, a post-impressionist artist, a lover of heavenly bodies. In whatever descriptions the world may give him, he is one of those artists from the past that I believe that had evidently shaped the modern world and even made fans of today educated of the difference between sanity and insanity. That decisions should be thought twice or trice before doing something that would do bad, like Van Gogh cutting a portion of his right ear, or doing the right thing, like also him doing his art masterpieces. 

Don McLean's song "Starry Starry Night", I mean "Vincent", is still being played on radios today. This music still links people, links me to the artistic and crazy past of Vincent Van Gogh in his lifetime in Europe in the mid-1800’s. This links me to the beauty of the stars. And because there are countless ways of not forgetting the images of his outstanding starry-artwork, night skies will always be here, behind cloudy skies or in the other side hiding in the sunshine...and a happy and content Vincent will be singing along with us, celebrating the gifts he had received for himself... also the gifts he had given the world.

I was in my first year in high school when I learned about this volcano.  Learned about it because of the “white Christmas-like” atmosphere that surprised me after waking up in that historical day of June, 1991.  Mt. Pinatubo was once declared as a dormant volcano, meaning dead, inactive and something that is not to be feared of because it can be considered harmless.  Preluded by numerous Luzon earthquakes in the year 1990, Mt. Pinatubo just exploded like a pretty girlfriend experiencing a mood swing.  The surrounding provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga were devastated when mixture of water and phyroclastic materials furiously flowed towards the said provinces’ towns and villages that led to millions worth of damages and lost of lives.  It can also be remembered that aside from our heroes’ effort, this is one reason why the American military base in Subic, Zambales and Clark Field, Pampanga, left.   

Mt. Pinatubo largely became part of the Earth’s meteorological history for it changed its rapidly warming weather.  Because of the tons of volcanic ashes it threw into the Earth’s atmosphere, it blocked the Sun’s heat from entering our planet and eventually cooled it down.  It is such a nice fact to know that after this “suddenly awakened giant” did something horrible to most Filipinos, it would do something great for all the people on this wonderful planet.

   This crater-lake, now called Lake Pinatubo, was used to be a hot spot in the Province of Zambales after the famous volcano’s eruption in the 1991.  But subsequent rainfall cooled and diluted the lake, lowering the temperature and making it safe to be dove in during the early 2000’s.  Even if we were made aware of its unimaginable depth, we jump into the boat in our life vests unhesitant.  With boats designed like the ones in Burnhum Park in Baguio City, those boats in Pinatubo were almost unsinkable.  With the combination of good boats, the best guides and smiling-faced paddlers, truly, the enjoyment of crossing Lake Pinatubo from end to end was on its highest level.

The experience in Pinatubo, feeling the Earth’s heat passing thru tiny air holes in its lakebed was some sort of us communicating with Mother Earth.  I guess it was telling us that good things come in sometimes small, sometimes big packaging... but in Pinatubo’s case, the packaging was quite violent.  But if you’re going to look at it now, you will truly say that even though God sometimes permits inevitable things to happen, He really knows what to do and really could give bigger things in return in His time.  Just like Pinatubo, it waited for a long long time, now it is in its ultimate level of giving mankind the most majestic experience of its splendor.

This is how the world would end.  Diversity would end us all, racial discrimination, creation of boundaries because of social, cultural and even religious differences that would eventually lead to hate that mankind would easily hurt his neighbor.

Actually, the world already started the countdown to its end when man lost his sanity and forgot what the meaning of love and respect are.  No not today, May 21, 2011… not in 2012.  We’re already journeying into it.  But I guess could still stop this world of anger and hate for change. 

If some religious groups were still confused of biblical computations of the world’s exact doom, maybe I could say that we really have to end this up. 

End all these foolishness.

But still, no worries, let’s just stay us one.    

Never in my life that I was deprived of kechup in one of my favorite fastfood chains.

I was in McDonald’s in Tanauan City, Batangas when this stab to the heart incident happened.  Because I was kind of trying to reduce my food intake, I only ordered this light Filet-o-fish sandwich, single order, not in value meal.  Then when I requested for six(6) sachets of kechup(huh? Six?!!!), the rookie cashier, seemed intimidated, told me that they don’t give kechup for sandwich-only orders.  But I asked her, “why not?”.  Being a regular customer, it’s kinda hurting to learn that kechups are being treated as French fries “ternos” and not a condiment for bread and filling.  And I even don’t remember seeing signages in fastfood restaurants saying that “Kechups are only for French fries, please don’t leave your valuables unattended…”.

As a marketing guy, I believe that my kechup deprivation experience was not a good move for McDonald’s(although maybe this “no-kechup for solo-sandwich order” was a branch policy only)Tanauan for it was not encouraging for new customers to be one of those who will return and eventually become regular customers.  But I think this ain’t about me questioning their service of pleasing customers on their automatic offering of ketchup or something but perhaps this is all about my exaggerated tomato gooey craving. 

But I’m a regular customer!  Please me.